Budapest Revisited
by CrazyOtaku13
Summary: Clint and Natasha are back in Budapest for a mission. While reminiscing their first time there, Clint has an important question for Natasha. One shot. ClintxNatasha. Angst warning.


**A/N: My second Clintasha fic. I hope you guys enjoy!**

"Where are you taking me, Barton?" Natasha asked. They had been walking for what felt like miles across a lifeless and broken plain. Wearing heels was a mistake, but her partner had seemed extra keen on getting dressed up. "Fury's going to be calling us about our mission details in a few hours."

"C'mon, Nat." Clint turned to crack a smile. "Look around, doesn't this place bring back memories?" He outstretched his arms, displaying the dull scenery that surrounded them.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Budapest. Yeah, I'm familiar with this place."

"Do you remember _everything, _though?" He grabbed her hand and led her towards a trench.

She stared out at the horizon. "I believe that's the spot where I took out three men at once," she commented, pointing a finger aimlessly.

"I didn't mean the battle, Nat," he remarked with a sly grin.

"I figured," she drawled.

He knelt down, being careful about dirtying his newly-pressed pants, and brushed away some dead leaves and dirt. There was a steel door that had served as an entrance to a secret bunker built by S.H.I.E.L.D. years ago while fighting a battle there.

"Last time we were here, I don't recall being dressed like _this_," she remarked before jumping down the hole.

Clint began to chuckle as he caught her. "Play along, Nat," he encouraged her. He set her down and went over to turn some lights on. "We had some good times here."

"Trying to keep our men under control as they feared death? Yeah, good times," she sarcastically retorted.

He held her hand and led her to a room at the far back of the hideout. The lighting in the empty room was faint, but it remained the same from years ago. "This is where I first kissed you," he informed her.

She flashed him a smile. "And I believed I replied by slapping you across the face and saying it was unprofessional."

He began to laugh at the memory. "But do you remember what happened after?"

"Didn't I swear to kill you if you tried anything?" she playfully asked.

"_After_ that," he began. "I said, 'Natasha Romanoff, I love you.'" A strong arm snaked around her waist and pulled her against him.

"And I kissed you," she replied. "Just like this," she breathed before brushing her lips against his.

He held her face between his hands as they kissed. The memory of that day was still as vivid as it had been six years ago. "Then you said you loved me," he recalled.

"And I still do," she admitted, gazing into his blue green eyes.

"Before we move on to replay how we spent that night," he paused, "I wanted to ask you something." The playfulness disappeared from his face. Natasha had only seen him with this stoic expression while on missions. "Natasha."

She continued to stare up at him with an equally serious expression.

"I love you." A hand slipped into his pocket. "And I want to spend the rest of my life with you…" From his pocket, he pulled a tiny satin box and got down on one knee.

Natasha Romanoff wasn't one to be taken by surprise. _She_ was the one used to doing the surprising. Her eyes widened as Clint opened up the box, revealing a diamond ring.

"Natasha Romanoff, will you marry me?"

Her mouth fell open. She found herself at a loss for words as she admired the way the ring's facets glistened in the light. "Yes." The word quickly managed to escape her lips. Before Clint could say anything, she got down to throw her arms around his neck.

"Really?" A lighthearted smile formed on his face.

"Of course, you idiot," she said before kissing him. "I love you. More than anything," she confessed. "I want to be your wife."

He raised a brow. "You're taking this better than imagined. I thought you'd hit me," he joked.

Her laughter joined with his. "You took me by surprise, so I'm doing the same to you."

"Anything you say, Mrs. Barton." He pressed his mouth to hers.

Natasha couldn't wipe the smile from her face. After years of being with Clint, as a partner, a friend, and her secret lover, she was finally committing to spending the rest of her life with him. "You know Fury's going to give us hell about this, right?" she asked.

"We'll just have to promise our marriage won't interfere with our work."

"And Stark will start boasting about how he knew about us all along," she added.

"Just smack him." Carefully, he lifted the ring from its case and slipped it onto her ring finger. "I love you," he whispered before kissing her hair.

She admired the ring for a moment before returning her attention to her fiancé. "You spared my life, Clint Barton. You're the reason I'm still alive…"

He raised a brow in confusion. "You're not just marrying me as payback, are you?" he jokingly wondered.

"I think that was when I first fell in love with you." She cuddled up against his chest.

"You told me it was that mission in Moscow," he smirked.

"That's because you would've thought it was silly if I said it was 'love at first sight.'"

He gently drew her face close to his. "I don't think it's silly at all," he admitted.

She lowered her eyes as she felt her face grow hot. "Together forever, then." Her slender fingers laced between his. "I'll make you the happiest woman alive."

"You've already done that," he whispered before he kissed her.

The two spent the evening in each others arms, followed by making love just as they had done on the night they first confessed their love to each other. Their time, however, was limited since they had been sent to Budapest for a mission. Nonetheless, every moment spent in each other's company was perfect in every way. The couple had soon made their way to their hotel room and decided to rest before Fury contacted them.

"Clint." Natasha set her cell phone aside on the nightstand. She turned to her partner, watching as he peacefully slept. "Clint!" she hissed a tad louder. "Fury called-we have to go."

Clint replied by grabbing all the covers and rolling onto his side.

"If you don't get up, I'll _make_ you," she threatened with a playful smirk across her lips. She rose from the bed to grab her wrist blasters. The faint sound of surging electricity within them as they were activated was enough to make him bolt upright.

"I'm up!" Suddenly wide awake, he went over to his suitcase to grab his uniform.

Once Natasha had her skin-tight jumpsuit on, she stared down at the ring on her finger. She hadn't bothered taking it off and she had no intention of ever doing so. The idea of losing it was painful to think about, though.

Clint happened to catch sight of her dilemma and sauntered over to her. "You should wear it. For luck."

"Since when have we ever needed luck?" she asked. "It's going to get dirty. Or what if I lose it?" She slipped on one of her fingerless gloves. The ring managed to stay hidden, but there was still the chance it could get broken.

"Just leave it like that. It'll be safe." He placed his hands on her hips. "Besides, it's just from one of those kids machines, so it only cost me a quarter," he jokingly added.

"If only it were," she laughed. "This is too much."

"My wife deserves the very best."

Natasha couldn't help but smile every time he referred to her as his wife. She knew all too well, though, that their fun time was over. "Fury has a lock on our target," she began. "Gyoto Szilveszter."

Clint grabbed his phone to get a look at their man's face and read up on the bio. "So he's the one dealing military weapons. Should be easy."

"He may have back-up," she continued. "Fury wants us to bring Gyoto in, so don't kill him. He's hiding the weaponry, but we don't know where. It's believed to be scattered in the city."

"Let's finish this and get home then. We've got a wedding to plan," he reminded her.

"We're on duty. Don't forget that," she warned him.

He grabbed his sunglasses and slipped them on. "Got it."

Natasha put her other glove on and attached her holsters to her thighs.

"Ready, Widow?" Clint asked her. He stood by the hotel window as he slung his arrow holster over his shoulder.

Natasha knew that the moment they left the room, they were on a formal mission. There was no time for fooling around and being openly romantic."We have to split up," she notified him as she approached his side.

"We meet back up at the warehouse. I got the report, Nat."

"I love you." Her arms wrapped around his neck as she gave him a kiss.

"Be careful," he breathed.

"You, too."

He forced the window open and readied an arrow with an attached rope. The arrow was shot at an adjacent building and had dug into the brick, allowing for Clint to use it as his own personal zip line.

Natasha climbed out of the window and skillfully scaled her way down the building's side. Her eyes had quickly adjusted to the dark as she ran down the deserted alleys. Occasionally, she would pull out her phone to check the location of her suspect. Once she spotted the warehouse, she decided to check in on her partner. "Black Widow to Hawkeye, I've reached our location," she stated. After a moment, she could hear Clint's voice coming from her earpiece.

"Hawkeye to Widow, I'm in."

"How's it looking?"

"All clear. Fury's sure he's got a track on this guy?"

She climbed up a wire fence and made her way to the building's back entrance. "This is where surveillance has spotted him every night. Alright, I'm in," she added. She withdrew one of her guns and held it in her outstretched arms. The warehouse didn't show any signs of being used for the time being. Crates upon crates lined the shelves, but there was no sign of any suspicious activity. After silently making her way across three rows of shelves, she caught up to Clint.

"Nothing."

"No, surveillance just had a lead on him. He's in here," she growled.

"I'm gonna climb up for a bird's eyes." He hoisted himself up onto a wooden crate and made his way up.

Natasha kept a careful eye out, waiting for something to happen. "Anything up there, Barton?" she asked in a hushed whisper. There was an eerie silence. "Barton?" She looked up towards the ceiling and watched Clint push back one of the ceiling tiles.

"I think this is his base," he muttered.

Natasha leapt up onto a crate and followed suit. As she drew nearer to the ceiling, she was able to overhear a set of unfamiliar footsteps. A shot rang out and Natasha scrambled up to the top. "Barton, what happened?" She punched back the ceiling tile and hopped up into the attic.

"Don't worry. He missed," Clint informed her. "He took off. Let's go!"

"'Took off?'" Looking ahead, all she could see were more crates, some of which were open to reveal the weaponry tucked away inside.

"We're going back down!" he shouted. "Go!"

She nodded and jumped down from the ceiling's opening to the floor where she landed on her feet with ease.

Their target took off running, only to come to a halt as Clint shot him through the shoulder with an arrow.

Natasha ran over to where the man lay, doubled over in pain. She grabbed him by the jacket and forced him to look at her. "He's not our guy," she noticed.

"What?" Clint had run over to her side. After getting a better look, this man looked much younger than the man in the picture they were sent.

"He's not working alone," she warned Clint. "Where's Gyoto?" she growled at the man in Hungarian as she grabbed him by the jacket collar.

Eyes wide with fear, the man couldn't bring himself to respond.

Natasha pointed her gun between the man's eyes. "You're going to talk!"

An explosion fired off from upstairs, forcing the Black Widow and Hawkeye into action mode.

"I've got this!" Hawkeye told his partner before running off.

The Widow's prisoner began to speak, but she could only piece together several words. As predicted, Gyoto wasn't alone. He was there with them. She was also able to hear the word 'explosives' thrown into the jumble of Hungarian. A ceiling tile fell to the floor, landing only feet away from Natasha. Quickly, she looked up and saw Clint trying to navigate his way around the attic. Judging by his careful motions, the place must've been rigged. Meaning something triggered off those explosives…but on purpose? Natasha glared down at her hostage. This wasn't the man she was sent to apprehend. She fired the man with an electrical shot from one of her wrist blasters and climbed up to the attic. Right now, her partner came first. Once she made her way up the tower of crates, she pushed away a ceiling tile and popped her head in. She could see Clint staring straight ahead with an arrow set on his bow.

"I've got him, Widow," he said, his eyes focused on the target ahead of him.

Natasha turned her head to get a look at their target. It was him, alright. There was a smirk across Gyoto's face as he dropped his gun, throwing Natasha into a panic. "Barton, I think he's got the place rigged!" she shouted.

The gun hit the floor and an explosion went off where it landed. While Black Widow and Hawkeye were distracted, Gyoto kicked at the floorboard at his feet and fell through the ceiling.

Natasha heard the cracking of the floor and ran, followed by Hawkeye, to pursue him. The duo landed on their feet and found themselves surrounded by four of Gyoto's henchmen. The two could see Gyoto running off towards the warehouse's main entrance. Through her peripheral vision, Natasha could no longer see the man she previously rendered unconscious.

"I'll get Gyoto," Hawkeye whispered, his back to her. "Take these guys down, Widow."

"I'm glad you gave me the fun part," she smiled. Natasha made the first move. She violently kicked the tallest of the men in the side. He fell against one of the others and they both tumbled to the floor. Gyoto's two other men ran at Natasha while Clint dodged them to run after Gyoto. Before the two cronies could lay a hand on Natasha, she kicked one in the gut, while rendering the other unconscious with an electric shock current. One man staggered to his feet, only to have Natasha grab his arm and throw him into the floor. "Not much for fighters, are you?" she commented. With her part already completed, she took off outside to find Clint.

Hawkeye had Gyoto by his neck. The target must've been an easy catch since Natasha noticed an arrow through his thigh. "I just called Fury. Our backup's coming in shortly," he said.

Natasha remembered the man she had previously knocked out. "The men are down, but the one from before is missing…"

"What?" A puzzled expression formed on his face.

"He should still be paralyzed, but he's not in the warehouse."

Clint shot her an assuring smile. "We've got Gyoto. That's all we needed."

A subtle noise from the warehouse door forced Natasha to look up. Even in the darkness, she could make out the face of the man she had taken down. He was staggering to his feet in an effort to leave the warehouse. At first, she wasn't worried. The man was clearly injured and as Clint had said, Gyoto was what mattered.

"Some help, Nat?" Barton asked as Gyoto started to put up a struggle.

Natasha forced the man's arms behind his back and pinned him to the ground before giving him a decent shock. "Can't handle a little struggle, Barton?" she asked playfully. Clint removed his shades, allowing for her to stare into his eyes. In that moment, she caught sight of something glistening under the moonlit sky. "Clint!" she shouted, grabbing her gun.

His brows furrowed together. Natasha never used his first name while on a mission- it was 'unprofessional', as she had said. For her to look at him with such desperation meant something was wrong. He could see her eyes stare straight ahead towards the warehouse door. Without having to turn around, he grabbed his bow and fired off an arrow. The arrow struck Gyoto's colleague in the heart, but not before he could fire off four bullets aimed at Clint's head.

"Clint!" A pained scream escaped her throat and her gun fell from her hand. Everything happened within mere seconds. Those seconds, however, felt like time had suddenly slowed down the instant her eyes met with Clint's. Unable to look away, she watched in horror as she saw the life fade from his eyes. Shaking knees gave in beneath her. Her mouth fell open as she dropped to the ground. The scene was all too unreal. Her mind failed her in believing that this was all just a nightmare. With a trembling hand, she reached out to him. A choked cry escaped her throat as her hand touched his blood-matted hair. The bullets had hit him once through the skull and the rest in his neck. "C-" She couldn't bring herself to say his name. Breathing suddenly became difficult for her. She hovered over his limp form and tears fell against his dirty-blonde hair. "Clint," she choked out. Carefully, she turned his body over, only to see the haunting emptiness of his glazed-over eyes. At that moment, she lost any hope that he was alive. Unable to speak coherent words, a disheartening shriek filled the empty night.

Moments later, the backup S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived on the scene in their helicopter, led by Agent Coulson. Before sending the agents off to apprehend the enemy, he instantly panicked the moment he heard Natasha's cries. "Stand down!" he warned the group. He jumped out of the copter and began to run to her side, only to tense up as he realized who Natasha was huddling over. "We need a medic team now!" Phil shouted urgently.

Natasha shook her head. Her fingers ran through Clint's hair in her lap.

"Natasha, what-?"

"H-He's dead." She couldn't believe the words that passed her lips.

Coulson knelt down and gingerly placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she icily snapped.

"Natasha, let's go," Phil gently suggested. Although he was hurt by Clint's loss, he needed to stay strong for her sake.

"I-I can't leave him!" she shouted. Her hand stroked Clint's cheek. "I can't. We said we'd be together forever," she muttered helplessly. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks as she realized that their future was over.

Never in his life had he seen her in such distress. She had always remained calm and collected, no matter how stressful the situation was. Seeing her with eyes red and tears streaming down her face was a painful sight. "Natasha." He pulled her against his chest. At first, she started smacking him and screaming to let go, as if she were a small child. His arms held her with more force until she gave up fighting and began weeping into his suit. Knowing words wouldn't be of any condolence, he simply stroked her hair. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had gone out to collect Gyoto's unconscious body, along with the five other henchmen, the one already dead by Clint's arrow.

The moment two agents approached Clint's body to carry aboard the copter, Natasha tore away from Coulson's arms. "Don't you **dare** touch him!" she warned them with bared teeth.

Anyone working at S.H.I.E.L.D. knew not to mess with the Black Widow, especially when she was in a bad mood. This, however, wasn't the same as one of her occasional bad days-this was far more frightening than anyone could've imagined.

"Natasha, we're taking him back with us," Coulson calmly assured her.

"Get away from me!" she yelled, slapping his hand away.

Coulson knew she was upset, but this seemed to be getting out of hand.

Her fingers dug into the ground near Clint's body. "Just give me a moment alone," she weakly managed.

He nodded in agreement and turned away to inform Fury of their loss.

Natasha forced Clint's eyes shut and stared down in a moment of silence. The years spent together flashed before her eyes, bringing only more tears and pain. She tore off her left glove, revealing Clint's final present to her, the symbol of a vow to spend the rest of his life with her. Life suddenly felt meaningless with him gone. She was incomplete without him- he was partner, her friend, her everything. In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of her gun in the dirt. _'Some help, Nat?'_ His final words echoed within her mind. With a quivering hand, she reached out for her trusty weapon. No, she thought to herself. The coolness of the gun's mouth met with her temple. Her next action required no help at all.


End file.
